RWBY:The Galaxy at War
by EliteOp
Summary: As team RWBY were having a stroll through the academy courtyard, something strange appears ahead of them. A portal. The girls go through, only to find themselves in a galactic-size war in which both sides are entrenched and hard-fighting. Team RWBY will join the Republic, fight alongside them and die, if need be. Oh also, Zwei is here.
1. Chapter 1:Unexpected Arrival

**AN:I need to stop pumping ideas out... This is a non-canon(DUH) writing of Star Wars the Clone Wars and what would happen if team RWBY joined the fray of the war. (Disclaimer:This might include White Rose and Bumblebee moments, if only in the form of mere jokes or some hugs here and there. There's also an OC in the republic soldiers and... You'll get the rest throughout the story)**

* * *

 **RWBY:The Galaxy at War**

 **Chapter 1:Unexpected arrival.**

 **Beacon Academy courtyard, late-night.**

Team RWBY took a small stroll before having to go to curfew to calm themselves. They've witnessed White Fang's terror acts, Grimm trying to kill them and so many other things, so a calming stroll would be the best thing to do as of now. Ruby looked around calmly and didn't dare break the serene quiet.

"This is rather relaxing." Weiss smirked, placing her hands behind her head as they walked forward.

"Yeah." Blake stated, looking around. She kept turning her head, only to see their dog, Zwei, following happily.

"Heh. Zwei seems cool with it." Ruby said, turning towards the puppy. She knelt and pet the dog. It smiled and licked its owner. Unknown to Ruby, a portal formed ahead of them. Aquamarine blue and swirling, it made Rose stand up and ready her sniper scythe. Her sister got close to it and reached in.

"Yang? Are you sure about this?!" Blake asked, readying herself to jump in after her friend.

"Yeah..." Yang answered, closing in even more. "Ruby... This portal... I've seen one just like it."

"Huh? You mean... It may be your mother's?" Ruby asked, closing in next to her sister.

"Likely." Yang answered, lowering her hand and looking at her sis. Weiss and Blake closed in and looked at the two sisters.

"What are we waiting for?" Ruby asked, smiling. Yang grinned and Weiss sighed in unison with Blake.

"If we're doing this..." Weiss said, readying herself to jump in. The girls ran through the unknown portal, holding hands and their weapons holstered.

* * *

 **Hoth, Republic trenches.**

3 Vulture-class CIS fighters flew overhead, their sirens resounding of something out of a horror show as they dove in. The Clone troopers of the 501st in their winter armor covered their ears and let the fighters fly by with their psychological terror of a siren shrieking overhead. One boy stood there, looking up at the fighters come for another run, this time with their blaster cannons letting loose on the trenches bellow. Massive red lasers streaked in, detonating fuel supplies, turrets and different machines in and around the trenches.

"Vandal-2, engage the AA guns! I can see the clankers coming in hot!" He cried, pulling out his DLT-75 blaster machinegun. He settled its tripod on the trench outline and took aim.

"Mother..." One of the clones said, hoisting his DC-15A blaster rifle over the trench cover too. "There's a tonne of them!"

"No shit. I can see Supers coming in too!" The boy stated, preparing to fire. "Captain Rex! We really need those damn batteries online!" The soldier said over comms, looking at everything. The voice of another clone trooper, Captain Rex of the 501st, crackled over the comm.

" _Workin' on it! We've got a lot of'em on this front too, you know?!"_ He answered in a static-filled voice as blaster fire was heard overhead.

"Copy that, cap!" The boy said, letting the blaster MG rip. The snow around it lifted and fell back as the magnetic field releasing the ionized gas worked on keeping the round whole. The blue and white lasers of the republic DLT streamed downrange in a tight cluster. The MG rippled continuously. Round after round impacted the BD-1 Battle droid ranks. The skeletal, white-colored robots fell, mowed down by the soldier and his clone comrades.

"We've got'em pinned!" One of the soldiers reported, his DC-15 blaster carbine focused on taking down the confederate droids.

"You're in our sight now! SAY GOODBYE!" The boy cried, pulling out a thermal detonator. He activated it and lunged it so far forward that it landed straight between the advancing battalion of super battle droids. The explosion melted their grey carcasses, leaving nothing more then a pile of metal at the center of the detonation. The blue lasers streamed down again from the boy's MG and killed the droids that survived, one being nailed in the red dot on its chest, where the central processor was housed. The droid's voice processor overloaded as it shrieked in... almost a painful cry for help.

"They're coming in hard! We're gonna get over-AAAUUUUGH!" A clone cried as he got nailed through the throat. The red laser left a gaping hole through the cover of the soldier's armor. Dark red blood started to flow out and instantly froze on the ice-cold surface of the white planet.

The sirens resounded again.

A hailstorm of red lasers came in, taking down 10 clones of the 15 left defending that outpost along with the boy. The clone's charred bodies littered the craters left by the overcharged cannons, their armor and weaponry nothing more than piles of ash and melted metal on their burning carcasses and their missing limbs, ash or flung around like rag doll parts, detached from the main body. Soon, a girl appeared in her winter uniform, jumped down into the trench and pulled a hilt from her sides. The strange metallic shape flared green, forming an ionized gas blade of white-green color. The girl turned it around and set it up like a knife. She jumped into the trenches, reinforcing her soldiers.

"Commander. Good to see you." The boy stated, his gun peering forward.

"Same to you, lieutenant. Ready to show these rust-buckets what we can do?" the girl said, smiling behind her face cover as she turned to meet the gaze of her protégé soldier. They saw the Triple-A open up on the three shrieking Vultures and shoot them down.

"You damn well know it!" The boy said, inserting a clip in his depleted MG. "Climb up the mountains, where the CIS awaits!" He cried, smiling.

"Follow me, boys!" the girl cried, charging down the middle with her sword pointed forward. She blocked 3 shots from SBD blasters and sent a shockwave through them. The 6 soldiers accompanying her opened fire with their weapons, sending the clankers into an open hail of laser fire from their allied trench. The commander noticed a strange portal open up ahead of the clone army trenches and 4 girls pour out if it along with a strange animal. Three CIS snail-like tanks rolled up on the dropping point and took aim. One single blaster fired, hitting a black and red girl and sending her flying through the snow and landing mere inches away from the edge of the clone trenches.

"PULL HER IN!" The commander cried as she and her soldiers dashed down the hill. "YOU 3! TAKE COVER WITHIN THE TRENCHES!"

The 3 strange girls complied, dashing for the trenches and pulling their wounded friend inside. The creature followed them in as they ducked their heads. All the more lasers streaked toward the 7-person group that dashed downhill. The lieutenant fired away with his DLT, neutralizing multiple targets at once. He noticed the other 3 girls jump out and dash for a strange scythe-like weapon in the snow. Another tank shot boomed as it impacted the middle, surprisingly leaving the gun intact but knocking out all 3 girls. One in white looked towards the trenches, her arm dripping blood into the snow as she extended it toward her comrade on a stretcher.

"Ruby..." She said, her hand dropping into the snow. She looked up, her blurred vision barely able to detect what came towards them. 3 Y-shaped craft screamed overhead, letting loose large missiles that impacted the tanks that shot at them. Weiss looked on in despair at her comrades and herself, bloodied and unable to move due to the sheer pain she felt. She cocked her head up, opened her mouth wide and screamed loud enough to cover the entire struggle around them.

 _"RUUUUBYYYY!"_ She screamed, crying.

Her head dropped into the snow, her eyes teary as she looked on at the sky, her eyesight, down to mere shapes and colors. The cold sun beat down on her forehead, her sweat turning to ice, much like her blood.

"The Swedish army met their bane... Sacrificed their lives in vain... Poltava..." A boy sang quietly, crouching over her. "She's alive, like her comrades! Get the medics here and let's haul them aboard the _Resolute_!" His voice was muffled by the ringing in Weiss' ears. A warm tear ran down her eye to her ear as she looked on at the shapes moving about and aiding her. She felt herself lifted up and placed on a stretcher, her arm over her stomach. Her head cocked right, to see her friends being triaged as well. Blake was bloody, her forehead cut and her right arm broken. On the other hand, Yang looked like she barely took a scratch, but it was not so. Weiss overheard one of the soldiers around her say the blonde had internal bleeding on multiple organs and that her right leg had an external fracture at the femoral area, thankfully not deadly.

 _Is this... it?_ She asked herself, closing her eyes.

* * *

 ** _Resolute_ medical bay. An hour after the battle of Hoth.**

Weiss' eyes opened to the bright light overhead. She looked on, struggling to adjust to the flash of light and wondering if she had ended up in heaven, but soon realized that was not the case as she tried to move her right arm. A jolt of pain passed through her stomach to her shoulder, without warning. She winced in pain as her eyesight cleared, revealing a bright white room with beds and strange tanks full of liquid, 4 tanks to be exact. 3 of which were occupied.

"HELP!" She cried, her chest jolting up as she screamed in agony. It was good she felt pain. It showed her she was alive. A medic in white uniform with a red cross on her shoulder dashed towards the girl. The woman looked on happily and gave Weiss a painkiller.

"That should ease the pain enough." The doctor said, sitting down. "We thought we'd lost you 4, and that isn't gonna happen with me as the _Resolute_ physician."

Weiss' eyes widened to a pink-haired doctor with a wide smile and purple-colored eyes. The doctor placed a hand on Weiss' undamaged shoulder and smiled.

"Your friends are alive... Even though barely." The woman said, comforting the wounded girl. "I should call the general and commander. They said they'd wanna see our guests."

Weiss laid her head back on the soft pillow on the medical bed, finding herself embraced by it. She could not speak as of now, but she did manage to let out a sigh. She cocked her head to the 4 tanks and grimaced. She started crying and her weeps resounded to the doctor's office. She ran in.

"Something wrong? It can't be pain..." The doctor said, sitting down and checking the girl. She wiped the tears off her face and noticed what she was crying about. She cocked her head and picked up a tablet, showing the lifesigns of the 3 girls in the tanks. "It's Bacta. They'll be fine." The doctor stated, handing the girl the tablet into her good hand. Weiss gave it back, still teary-eyed.

"What can be done..." She asked, looking at the doctor with a frown and a rough voice.

"Let them in Bacta for a few days, they'll wake up fresh and fine." The doctor answered, leaning before the girl and maintaining that smile. "Trust me, I'm the doctor here, alright?"

Weiss merely nodded and smiled, blushing. She lay her head back on the pillow and noticed Zwei next to her. She petted the small dog and it whined, still asleep.

"Alright. Wait for the commander, general and lieutenant to arrive." The doctor said, standing up. "They'll tell you about us, in case you want to know anything."

Weiss gasped and looked at the doctor leave. She knew they weren't from there, but how? She'd have to wait for the 3 people the medic had mentioned to arrive.


	2. Chapter 2:Sickbay

Weiss yet again found herself in that dream moment when the tanks shot at them. She felt the shockwave, the pain of seeing her friends mortally wounded, then being carried away. The poor girl was crying in her sleep as 3 persons walked in. The soldier she had met no less than an hour or two in the battle shook her awake and smiled.

"Good. You're still alive." He stated. "General, I do believe I have to go finish my training." He stood up and saluted, then turned to wave one goodbye to Weiss. _"_ _Myöhemmin, Snow White."_  
He walked out towards the clone barracks. The other two sat down next to the girl, one of which a red girl with white tattoos on her face and strange tail-like hair. The girl smiled and petted Zwei as it looked up to meet the gaze of the 2.

"He's cute." The girl said, wide smile on her face. The older man looked at her and then at the dog and merely grinned. He scratched his head on his brown hair and looked on at the puppy.

"What's your name?" He asked the wounded girl, his blue eyes meeting her gaze.

"I'm Weiss... Weiss Schnee."The girl answered, trying to stand up. She grimaced and winced in pain as her wounded arm nearly moved out of its socket.

"Easy, Weiss." The red-colored girl said, settling the Ice Queen back on the bed. "You aren't in any condition to move yet."

"What happened down there..." Weiss asked, leaning her head back on the pillow.

"Tanks." The man answered, looking at her 3 teammates. "The dark-haired girl got the worst of it."

"Ruby?" Weiss said, turning her head toward the Bacta tank in which Rose was situated. "I remember seeing her..." Weiss started to cry. "Take the shot straight to her chest."

"Weiss, She'll be fine." The girl said, holding Weiss' hand. "Much like the rest of your team." Weiss merely turned and wiped the tears off her face with her good hand.

"I didn't ask your names yet." She continued, looking at the two and petting the dog at the same time. It licked her hand and smiled.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker." The older man answered, looking at her.

"I'm Ahsoka Tano." The red girl said, extending her hand toward Weiss. The girl shook it and smiled.

"Nice to meet you." The Ice Queen stated, smiling "How much longer am I gonna be in bed?" She asked, trying to stand up yet again. "I hate not being mobile."

"At least another day. Good news is, the girl in black'll be out of Bacta too, to keep you company." Ahsoka stated, smiling. "Until then, we'll make sure to keep this little guy fed."

"Thanks..." Weiss said, smiling at the pair. She noticed the strange hilts at their sides and stared at them. "What are those?"

"Heh. You'll learn about them as we reach Coruscant." Anakin said, standing up. "C'mon, Snips. Let's let our guest sleep."

"Yes, master Skywalker." Ahsoka said, standing up. "Later."

"Later." Weiss said, waving at the pair. She fell asleep again and found herself in the dream state again. She could hear Ruby's scream this time as the blaster round pelted onto her chest, nearly burning her combat skirt off. She remembered yelling herself as she saw the damned snail tanks get closer and closer and she winced in pain, feeling the deadly shockwave hit her yet again. This time she felt the whole pain of the wounding shot and screamed in her sleep.

"HELP! HELP ME! GOD HELP ME!" She cried, taking the doctor's attention away from her work yet again.

"Weiss!" The doctor cried, waking the girl up. "Dammit, Weiss! That dream again?"

"Yes... I just can't forget it!" Weiss cried, looking at the doctor with scared eyes. The girl could not bear the nightmare anymore as she glared at the Bacta tanks yet again.

"Weiss. Look." The doctor said, taking her attention away from the hell she was watching. "Your friends will make it, like you have, okay?"

"Yes, I understand doc... I'll try my best to calm myself."

* * *

A few hours later, Weiss was able to walk around with crutches and she saw the full extent of damage to her body. Her arm had healed faster than it usually would, but there were third-degree burn scars on it, almost resembling of circles and her right leg hadn't fully healed, just close.

"Okay, now that you can walk, Weiss. How about I take you for lunch to meet the rest of the crew. Warning, some of them may look alike." The doctor said, holding the puppy in her arms. "It's normal, as our armies are... Well... Clone troopers."

Weiss smiled and nodded as they walked out of the sickbay, to soldiers in knight-like white armor with blue stripes on the arms. They saluted the doctor and looked on, surprised.

"What're they so surprised of?" Weiss asked, pushing herself forward with the crutches as they walked through the grey-white corridors of the republican Venator-class cruiser.

"I don't usually get out of the sickbay much. That's all." The doctor stated, holding her tablet at the ready. "Ah, Sergeant Topper?" She stopped one of the clones dead in front of her.

"Ma'am?" The soldier asked, surprised. "Something wrong?"

"Have you been remembering your meds?" The doctor asked, smiling. The soldier nodded and showed her two empty canisters of medicine.

"Been taking them since you handed'em to me doc. They've helped a lot." The soldier stated. He saluted and let the girls on their way. They kept on walking until they ran into the soldier-boy that saved Weiss. He smiled and leaned against the wall, his grey-and-yellow uniform blending in properly with his surroundings.

"Ah, Lieutenant Harper. How have you been adjusting to your new cabin?" The doctor asked, smiling.

"Alright, doc." The soldier said, glancing at Weiss. "I see our guest is up."

Weiss was leaning on the wall and petting Zwei as much as she could. The dog was ecstatic to, at least, see her walk out of all of team RWBY. She smiled as the dog jumped into her arms.

"Wow, he's heavier than I remember." Weiss said, placing Zwei on the floor as carefully as possible and poking his nose. She straightened up and extended her hand.

"I'm Weiss." She said, smiling at the soldier.

"Name's Harper." He answered, shaking her hand. "I do believe I've cut you two off from going to eat. Later."

Weiss turned her look to him as he left, noticing his dark-blue hair and eyes. She smiled and walked on with doc to the mess hall.

* * *

Weiss found herself back home, in Beacon. She saw a memorial wall ahead of her and walked up to it. 4 names were on it.

 _Weiss Schnee Age 18_

Her knees weakened, noticing the photos on the side.

 _Yang Xiao-Long Age 18_

She nearly choked, looking at the names

 _Blake Belladonna Age 18_

Tears streamed down her cheeks, then the final blow came.

 _Ruby Rose Age 15_

She knelt and started crying like she hadn't before, her tears plopping down on the concrete floor beneath her. She wouldn't stop crying and next thing, she found herself on the infirmary bed, sweating beyond relief. She jolted up and looked around, noticing one more bed occupied. Blake. She smiled and laid back on her bed, happily as the Faunus girl turned in her bed towards Weiss. Her eyes were open.

"Weiss?" Blake asked, looking at her friend. "Glad to see you're alive."

"Same... Doc said you guys would be waking up in a day or two..." Weiss said, cocking her head towards her Faunus teammate.

"I see Zwei is up..." Blake said in a sleepy voice. The catgirl smiled looking down at the small puppy. "I can't believe seeing him made me happy."

"It's being alive, Blake." Weiss stated, petting the dog and grinning. "Now, let's sleep before we wake up out in the firestorm of the war that got us here."

"Got it..." Blake said, drifting to sleep as the eerie blue of the _Resolute's_ FTL Filled the room calmly. Weiss soon drifted to sleep herself and this time she found herself in a calming dream, a happy dream...

* * *

The bridge was quiet as the ship prepared to exit Hyperspace over Coruscant and start communications with the planetary defense force.

"Strange group of girls we've picked up." Ahsoka stated, looking out the observation window.

"4 mortal wounds yet none of them dead? You can say that again Snips." Anakin answered, checking on his soldiers. "Weiss seemed calm enough."

"No one's calm after what they've received from those tanks." Rex retorted, walking on the bridge. The old soldier looked on at the general and commander and cocked his head to see the doctor walk in.

"I've got another out of the tanks." She stated, looking at the trio. "The girl has some strange ears, which, as far as I can tell, enhance her hearing by 200%."

"Glad to hear another one's out, doc Triello. How's Weiss holding up?" Ahsoka said, smiling at the young doctor.

"She's fine. Last time I checked she was chatting away with Blake." The doctor answered, smiling back at the alien girl. "I don't know what to expect of the other 2... They've taken the worst of the damage." She then bowed her head.

"Eh. You'll figure it out, doc." Rex said, turning for the door. "I have to go, sir. Finish training with Harper and the rest of the crew."

"Alright, Rex. Make sure you get that kid well-trained." Anakin said, smiling. "And another oddity about our unit."

"Heh. Right you are, master." Ahsoka said, grinning and looking out the window.

* * *

Okay, to clarify what Harper said

 _Myöhemmin, Snow White-Later, Snow White._


	3. Chapter 3:The troubled Wakeup

Weiss woke up to the sound of another Bacta tank being emptied. Yang. The girl opened her eyes sooner than expected. Blood red. The flame aura formed around her as she punched one doctor out of the way and sent another back and tried to choke him to death. Weiss jolted up on her already-healed legs and held Yang down. The blonde moaned and screamed, trying to break free.

"YANG! STOP!" She cried. The girl broke free and tried to punch Weiss, to no avail. Blake stopped the punch with her palms. The blonde charged at the Faunus, swinging and swinging until 2 clones final decided to walk in, weapons set on stun. They shot Yang 10 times before she went down.

"What did you do to her?!" Doc Triello asked, kneeling besides Yang.

"Ma'am! She was trying to kill your staff and the other two girls!" A clone stated, holstering his DC15 carbine. The black gun attached to his belt and the soldier backed off.

"No... When she's wounded she uses these kinds of attacks." Blake stated, turning towards the clone and back to Weiss. "I heard her wounds too."

"She's fully healed now." The doctor said, picking the girl up and placing her on a bed. "Don't know when Ruby Rose is to wake up though. Good to see you two up and about without crutches." She then stated, smiling at the girls.

"Thanks, doctor..." Weiss said, going towards Ruby's tank. The young Rose was hanging inside the strange liquid with a mask on her mouth and nose, so she would be able to breathe. Weiss noticed the burned spots on her chest.

"She really took the worst of it." Blake stated, going next to her friend. "It's not a pretty sight."

"Indeed." Doc Triello answered, closing in on the tank and placing a hand on it. "Cold glass... Separating us from a girl that might just need comforting."

"Doc. Please, don't talk like that." Weiss stated, placing her hand on the cold glass. "Stay strong Ruby."

Yang's eyes blasted open and she looked around to the sight of Blake and Weiss chatting, while Ruby sat in a strange liquid tank. She grimaced, getting up and touching the cold glass.

"What happen?" Yang asked as her friends walked next to her. Both of them hugged her. "Umm... Alright... A lot of love from both of you..." Yang awkwardly stated, looking at her friends.

"It's a long story, Yang." Blake said, settling the blonde back on her bed.

"Well... Tell me?" Yang said, rubbing her forehead. Weiss nodded and sat down next to her friend.

* * *

The doctor, lieutenant and Ahsoka stood at the door, watching the girls chat away. Harper merely smiled and turned to leave, letting Triello and Ahsoka to keep tabs on the girls.

"The power Yang exhibited, the sheer strength she knocked my boys out with... It's rather inhuman." Triello stated, looking at the young Padawan.

"Did you notice she wasn't hitting to kill?" Ahsoka stated, giving the girls a glare. "It's impossible she was sane in that state, yet... She knew not to kill."

"Human will knows no boundaries." The doctor said, smiling. "Much like your will, Miss Tano. That reminds me, get in."

"Oh no..." Ahsoka said, rubbing her forehead. "Med checkup?"

"Sadly, yeah. It'll give you a chance to talk to the girls, get to know them." Doc answered, smiling and inviting Ahsoka in. The 3 turned, only Weiss smiling at the sight of Ahsoka.

"Glad to see you're up and about, Weiss. Same for your friends." The padawan said, sitting down on a waiting bench.

"Someone got burned at the solar..." Yang quietly said, receiving a backhand from Weiss.

"She's an alien..." Blake said, standing up. Yang grimaced and stood up herself.

"Any news on Ruby?" Ahsoka asked, standing up to meet the strange stares of the 3.

"She's making a recovery, be it a slow one." Weiss answered, looking at the tank. "She really took the shot like a woman."

"Weiss, that slightly sounds wrong." Yang said, crossing her arms and grinning. She extended her hand towards Ahsoka in a friendly manner. "Name's Yang Xiao-Long."

"I'm Ahsoka Tano." The red girl answered, shaking Yang's hand. "I already know Blake, the resident cat girl."  
Blake smiled at that comment and looked on, noticing Zwei stand up from his sleeping spot in the corner. The dog yawned and walked towards the 4, happily panting.

"Heh." Ahsoka murmured, kneeling towards the little dog and petting him. "These creatures are loyal."

"A dog is a person's best friend. Cats are great too." Yang stated, pointing towards Blake.

"Alright..." Ahsoka said, pushing herself back up. "Weiss, you asked earlier about the hilt on my side. Let me show you three what it really is."

The girl removed the strangely shaped hilt and pressed a button on it, flaring a green blade, approximately an arm's length and shining green. The girls were in awe at the weapon.

"Nice pick for a weapon. What can it do?" Yang asked, staring straight into the green blade.

"It can slice through any thick wall in a matter of seconds if not a whole minute, it can cut tanks like the ones that hit you in half if aimed right and, oh, it also can take down a target if used right." Ahsoka answered, smiling. They could hear Ruby's tank empty out.

"Get my best docs out here now!" Triello demanded through comms. She dashed in and picked up her stethoscope.

"What happen doc?" Ahsoka asked, closing in with the other 3 members of team RWBY and Zwei along.

"Heartbeat's stopped! GET ME THE DEFIBRILATOR ON THE WALL!" Triello cried, trying to jumpstart Ruby's heart. The other girls knelt next to her as Ahsoka handed the defib.

"CLEAR!" The doctor cried, activating the defib and making Ruby jolt. Nothing.

"Fuck... Second time!" Triello stated, charging the 2nd shot.

"CLEAR!" Another Jolt, nothing.

"CLEAR!" Another jolt. "COME ON ROSE! DON'T GIVE UP ON THE FINAL STRETCH!"  
The doctor sent one last Jolt... Nothing.

"RUBY!" Weiss cried, trying to shake her friend awake. "COME ON! YOU DIDN'T GIVE UP BEFORE FOR GODS SAKES!" The doctor removed Ruby's oxygen mask and placed it on the floor, to listen for breathing. Nothing. Weiss' tears were streaming down and plopping on Ruby's chest as she bowed her head.

"RUBY!" Yang demanded, looking at her sister. "C'mon... Remember home? Remember everything?! Anything..."

"One man seeking reasons everywhere!" Harper cried, dashing in with a piece of medicine. "STAND BACK!" He demanded, the strange medicine lighting up in his palm. He emplaced it in Ruby's mouth. The girl's eyes opened, shone blue for 2 second and she jolted up, coughing.

"The power of Ragnite... Never doubt it!" The boy said, leaning against the footing of the bed. He grimaced as he felt a pain run through his chest.

Ruby's eyes turned for her friends and Zwei, to find the dog standing under her hand. She pet the poor animal and smiled.

"Girls? What happen?" She asked, picking herself up off the floor. The 3 joined in a hug, around Ruby. The girl smiled and looked at Harper.

"All hope turned to dust..." The soldier said, a piece of paper rolling from his palm. The girls lifted it and opened it to find the photo of a girl and him. The girl resembled Ruby very much.

"Huh... Wasted a lot of my energy there, doc... Got any supplements?" The boy asked, grinning.

* * *

The _Resolute_ appeared out of hyperspace above Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. It entered the atmosphere with clearance and set ashore in one of the massive spaceports. Troops disembarked in droves, people ran to meet the soldiers and out of all of them, the 4 girls along with Ahsoka, Anakin, Harper and Zwei, moved towards the Jedi temple. What will the future bring for our 4 hero girls? Stay tuned to find out.


	4. Chapter 4:Team RWBY, the Padawans

**AN:This one's gonna be a bit more about team RWBY joining the Jedi and Harper's backstory.**

* * *

Skywalker, Ahsoka and team RWBY walked inside the Jedi temple escorted by Harper, to the sight of young padawans walking about with their masters, people training, even to the sight of a massive library as they walked down one of the main hallways towards the room of the Jedi Council.

"Now remember, you 5, be at your best behavior." Ahsoka stated, grinning. They entered the small elevator that lead up to the council chambers. Ruby stood there, twiddling her thumbs as they arrived at the top of the spire. She got a knot in her stomach as everyone walked out.

"Harper." Obi-Wan Kenobi said, smiling. "Anakin, Ahsoka. And those must be our new guests."

"Indeed, sir." Harper said, standing at attention.

"Girls, please step forward." A female master stated. Luminara Unduli stood up, her green skin and black tattoos resembling that of Ahsoka's. Team RWBY walked up, unsure of what was about to happen. Then the whole Jedi order stood up.

"From the sayings of Lieutenant Harper of the 3rd platoon, 501st division, general Anakin Skywalker, 501st division and commander Ahsoka Tano, 501st division, you girls withstood the fire of CIS Snail tanks and lived to tell about it." Obi-Wan stated, looking at the girls and smiling.

"You have awakened to a new world, a galaxy at war. We do not even know who you girls are, but we know after what you've endured, we humbly request that you join the ranks of the Jedi, as Peacekeepers and warriors of the Republic." Luminara continued, also smiling. "Our oldest advisor and friend, master Yoda could not be here as of today. He said he had business to attend to with the young ones. But we are sure he would agree with us."

"Well girls?" Ahsoka said, walking up next to them. "What do you say?"

The 4 girls took a moment and looked at each other, almost like they were consulting via some telepathic means. They knew what every glance meant.

"Thank you masters... We're in!" Ruby finally stated, smiling. The whole team held hands and bowed.

"Very well then, team RWBY, welcome to the ranks of the Jedi." Obi-Wan stated, crossing his arms. "We already know who to assign you 4 to."

The entire council glanced at Anakin, making him back off.

"You're serious..." Anakin stated, leaning his head on his palm. "Very well. Expect as good a training as Ahsoka got. Welcome to the 501st, ladies."

"Oh boy..." Harper said, grinning behind his facepalm. "Good luck, masters. I'll be going now."

"Not so fast, Harper." Obi-Wan stated, making the boy stop dead in his tracks. "We've checked the basic data and information from your ship. Earth is occupied, is it not?"

Harper turned, his grin disappearing.

"Indeed. Combat fleet the size of both the CIS and Republic combined, times 3." He answered, crossing his arms. "The third, fourth and fifth fleets made it out but... I highly doubt that humanity has much of a chance alone against the Reapers." **(MASS EFFECT REFFERENCE, YES. HE'S FROM MASS EFFECT AND LINKED SORTA TO ONE OF MY OTHER STORIES WHICH IS BARELY STARTED... This is in the future...)**

"In all honesty, I still don't know how I made it, sir. Permission to leave and ponder how I survived..." He finished off, rubbing his forehead.

"Granted, lieutenant." Obi-Wan stated. The door to the elevator hissed shut as the boy left to think.

* * *

Harper sat at his desk on board the _Resolute_ , looking at images taken just before jumping away from Earth. His world was burning bellow him as his single-man shuttle jumped out.

"I hope you can make it in time, Shepard. Or you and that Selvaria girl will have problems..." He muttered to himself, placing his tablet down. Washington burned on the other side, going down in flames as two worlds collided."

A knock on the door and the boy pressed the button, allowing a girl in a black-and-red dress in. Ruby.

"Hey." She said, leaning against the wall.

"Ma'am." He answered, leaning on his chair and covering the tablet. "Anything you need?"

"I and the team wanted to ask for a tour of the ship. We have just finished training and are kind of dumbstruck about where to go." The girl answered, looking at Harper calmly.

"Sure thing." The boy said, standing up. "Follow me team RWBY."

As they walked across the hallway, the boy was humming an odd song. He had taken them throughout the entire ship, when they finally reached the bunks again. He left them to unpack and turned back to his room. He fell to his knees inside and started bleeding from his nose.

"Not... Again..."

A purple aura formed around his body, aiding with the healing process.

"Enter our gates... Auschwitz awaits..."

He fell on the floor, passed out.


	5. Chapter 5:Landing at Point Rain part 1

Aboard the _Resolute,_ team RWBY readied their weapons for the deployment they were about to face. They said the force would deploy on Geonosis, a highly important foundry-planet for building the CIS' massive droid armies, so the girls wanted to be ready. The sound of 4 pairs of boots making contact with the floor made Ruby jolt up from her bunk and open the door. Harper was on a gurney, headed for sickbay.

"Hey!" She cried, going next to the troopers "What's going on?"

"Lt. Harper is wounded. We're pulling him to the medbay so he can be ready for the assault." The clone answered as they dashed toward the medbay.

"Does this happen often?" Ruby asked, looking at the boy's bleeding nose.

"Not that often... Don't know what happen this time 'round Rose. Heh, air assault trooper, just sliding down the road." He happily said, with a smile behind the bloody nose. "I was part of the paras before comin' here. USAF TSR5012 Airman."

"Nice." Ruby said, walking besides him. "You seem to be healing on your own."

The boy stood up just as they reached the medbay door and smiled at the young jedi.

"I must say, you girls surprised us with your arrival." He stated, crossing his arms. "Up in the mornin' in the pourin' rain, I dawn my chute and boarded a plane."

"What song is that?" She asked, smiling.

"It's a cadence from the US Air Force paratroopers... Don't remember the name, but I remember Dee Dee's platoon singing it as they graduated." He smirked. "Let's take a walk, Ruby."

The two took a stroll through the corridors of the ship and found themselves in the hangar, to the sight of troopers moving about and preparing drop ships.

"Corporal Wess! Here!" Captain Rex demanded, showing a trooper where to move a box. "Alright, a little more... There."

The box dropped with a loud thump onto the floor and the soldier fell belly first into it.

"Alright, corporal. At ease." Rex stated, patting the soldier on the head. He turned to the sight of Ruby and Harper.

"Lieutenant." He smirked, closing in on the pair. "I thought you'd gotten yourself in med bay a tenth time by now."

"Not a chance, sir." Harper said, shaking Rex' hand. "It was close, but not there."

The captain let out a light laugh and smiled at Ruby. "Ah, one of the new Padawans. Thrown into the fray this early, ma'am?"

"Sadly, yeah. After this op, Master Skywalker said we'd actually be building our lightsabers." The girl answered, smiling. "Until then, I still have my Crescent Rose."

"Huh. Alright." Rex said. "Harper, with me for a bit."

"Sir." The boy answered. Rex yanked his arm and moved him next to a couple of supply boxes.

"For Geonosis? How do we know these girls won't end up dead?!" He asked in a worried voice, looking back at Ruby.

"Captain, they've survived a Snail-tank blast." Harper answered, crossing his arms. "I highly doubt a few blaster rounds could tear them to bits, plus from what I understood, these girls were fighting before coming here." He gave the captain a grin and waved at Ruby. The girl waved back happily. "Plus, I'll keep watch on them as I will be aboard their shuttle, got it?"

"Huh. Alright, kid. Watch yourself." Rex said, patting the boy on the shoulder and handing him the M-6 Carnifex he had come with. "Your armor is waiting in your bunk along with the guns you came here with. Docs finished researching it and the ammo finally. Watch it out there N7."

Harper nodded and saluted as he turned back to Ruby and moved towards her.

"Let's go, there's still things to talk about." The boy stated, smiling.

* * *

The alarms sounded off throughout the ship as troops rushed to their staging areas, team RWBY along with Anakin and Ahsoka besides them. Boots clattered, weapons cocked and clones moved about and boarded the LAAT shuttles. A single soldier was late, in his black and red armor, he rushed toward the jedi shuttle and boarded it. His helmet didn't show who he was, but it had a very bright blue cover on top. Anakin turned towards him and smiled.

"Lieutenant John "Airborne" Harper reporting and ready to kick confederate arse!" He cried happily, reloading his Mattock rifle.

"Welcome aboard, Lt." Anakin answered, grabbing onto the handle atop the shuttle. "Okay, girls. The CIS blockade has been breached, so it's up to us on the ground to destroy their factory. It's protected by layer after layer of defenses. Ahsoka briefed all of you, I believe?"

"Yes sir!" They all said in unison. Anakin smiled and nodded. The clones aboard did so too.

"Landing at Point Rain! Why does that sound so bad?!" Yang asked, turning toward Harper.

"It's not that bad! Just stay together and engage them on-mark! Alright?!" Harper answered, grabbing the handle as well. The girls nodded and turned their looks forward. The small gunships got pushed by their activated engines. They exited the _Resolute's_ main bay and came under heavy flak fire. Round after round detonated around the transport craft, even though a few hundred were launched.

"How many are we again?!" Weiss asked, worried about the outside detonations.

"Approximately three hundred and fifty gunships! Adding out tank carriers, that makes us about six hundred!" Harper answered, making the calculations in his head. "Think of it as D-Day!" He stated, making a calming sign for the girls.

"D-Day?! What's that!" Blake demanded, scared of what the answer might be.

"A series of battles from which the good side came victorious! I can't sugar coat it though, a lot of the good guys died!" Harper answered, cocking his M-99 Black Widow sniper. "But they didn't have Jedi on their side! You gals are gonna be just fine!"

"That's recomforting as all hell Lt!" Cried Rex, grinning. "Keep your heads down and shoot when you can works better in these situatio-" Anakin cut off as a round impacted the hull of their gunship and took out the engines. It was aflame as they were losing altitude fast.

"Oh boy... MAYDAY, MAYDAY! THIS IS HAWK-2 WE'RE GOING-"

The ship crash-landed into the grounds near a gigantic building, leaving a cratering trail behind it. As Harper pushed onto the door and popped it open, the clones, team RWBY and the two Jedi piled out and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing how they were alive. Harper jumped into cover and scoped something big in.

"Err... I thought we were supposed to EVADE the massive fuckin' defense wall there?"


	6. Chapter 6:Landing at Point Rain part 2

**Geonosis.**

"Wonderful..." Harper said, slamming the metalic door next to him with a hard biotic punch. The alloy dented as he yelled "JUST FUCKING WONDERFUL!"

"Settle down, Harper." Rex said, going next to him with his pistols unholstered. Harper took his helmet off and shook his head, then pulled out his M99 Black Widow and peered through the enhanced scope, toward the damned wall. The atmosphere was orange, dusty and hellish, yet Harper breathed normally through it, like most people could, but it was rash for the throat. He coughed, then turned toward the girls and Skywalker.

"That damn thing is a fortress. I've counted over 300 Blaster repeaters on it! We would be torn to shreds, but thank the Makers it is a damn wall among some ridgelines. Rockfalls created cover around the-"He stopped and coughed, then placed his helmet back on his head and breathed in. "Around the fucking walls. Let's move before I send out a biotic blast their damn way and tear the fucking wall down, while also somehow managing to fuck my own life over."

"Kid's right..." Rex said, signaling his clones to form up. The soldiers quickly joined, their armors dusty as hell, but they all kept on moving together, weapons up and ready.

"We've fought hard, held our guard... But when captured by the Axis, forced to tell the truth... We told them with a smile, we surprised them with a laugh..." The boy from Earth whispered to himself, then settled behind a thick rock and took aim with his sniper. The blaster cannons began to fire, nailing two troopers. A round nearly slammed into Harper's helmet, but he dodged it just in time and smiled, then took it off as his biotics flared red.

"COME GET SOME YOU FUCKING CLANKERS!" He screamed, sending a shockwave rippling through the thick concrete structure ahead, busting dust off of it. He raised a biotic dome to defend himself from the swarm of fire now focusing on him, turned and winked to Ruby, who knew what that meant. She tapped Skywalker on the shoulder, who knew what this meant as well...

His mind screamed, as he was charging a biotic backblast. He took aim for the main battery of cannons and sent the blast in, screaming out of sheer pain and disabling the electronics, but getting nailed due to his barrier going off. He fell onto the ground, then got pulled in by a clone. The wall detonated moments later, sending a massive dust cloud around.

"Check for survivors! Captain Rex, Commander Tano, General Skywalker and the other Padawans may be there!" Screamed a clone, until 7 silhouettes walked out from among the cloud, surprising everyone, but Harper stood up and snapped-to. The girls high-fived, while Skywalker and Rex walked, arms crossed to their chests about the massive thing.

"Nice work." Harper said, grinning to his ears as he saw the 6 figures walk out from the dust cloud. He stood up with the help of a clone trooper and wiped the dusted off his armor. "Orders, general?"

"We move on." Skywalker said. "Stick close to me and the girls, Harper. Just in case."

"Ten four, mon-general." Smirked the elite N7 soldier. The squad began a face-paces march toward Point rain. Harper merely knew this was another run through hell for him, so he cocked his rifle, looked at his allies and smiled. Yang grinned as her three other friends rushed beside her.

A few hundred steps of running later, they came upon another canyon, from where they could see Point Rain, finally. As many Clankers engaged around them, the boy soon saw the sight that made team RWBY shake in their boots, and show their first signs of hatred.

"Snail-tanks! Twelve o'clock!" Called the boy, hoisting out his Cain nuke launcher. "EVERYONE STAND BACK! TIME TO BURN SOME SNAILS!" Stated the boy, hoisting the nuclear fusion launcher to the targets. Everyone stopped behind him and he loaded in a fist shot for the Cain. Energy began to fluctuate through it, flashing dark-red and blue as the charger locked in. The squad formed around him, all thirty clones and the jedi, Along with team RWBY as the Cain launcher charged.

"Dropped from Enola, a city erased... Threat of a future displayed... Power unheard of... Power unseen..." Chanted the boy, his weapon charging now at 100%. "AUGUST IN BLACK, B29 TURNS BACK, PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR ATTACK!" He screamed, sending a Cain shot downrange. The three Snails that intercepted them soon turned into a hellish fireball, sending a small shockwave and a dust cloud toward the girls and him. They covered their eyes as the dusty wind passed them quickly. He hoisted the launcher back behind his armor, it turning itself back to its inactive form. "Chose not to believe, didja?"

The clankers that still survived received a shot from the boy's Mattock rifle, and he sighed, holstering it. The squad crouched behind some rocks and Harper pulled out his binoculars. General Kenobi's troops were getting hammered by every damn thing the droids and their Geonosian counterpart had to offer. The girls grimaced, Ruby looking through the scope of Crescent Rose. Harper huffed, then yanked out his M99 Black Widow and levelled it for a Geonosian. A click of a trigger, and an interception shot hit a Geonosian dead on in its forehead. The boy quickly bolted the rifle and took aim, then shot again. Another one down, this one falling over an SBD

"Harper?" Inquired Weiss, going next to him. The boy looked toward her, smiled and nodded. He then looked to Skywalker and Tano, who were grinning.

"General. I'll hold off some droids here. You, captain Rex and the girls go help General Kenobi and Commander Cody. They need you."

"Hell no." Stated Ahsoka, grinning as she saw her master's expression. "I, for one, am sticking with Harper, master. He needs help."

"Same here." Stated Weiss, her arms crossed. Team RWBY soon joined her, nodding at her call. Skywalker sighed, then looked at Harper.

"You heard the girls, Harper. They ain't leaving your side." Stated Anakin calmly as he looked harper in his bright blue eyes. He grinned, then nodded and looked to Weiss.

"Alright girls. But 'member. I'm the one calling the shots, her and now."

"Aye, aye, Lieutenant!" Chorused the girls. Anakin grinned, then nodded and signaled his clone squad to move out, leaving the six members of the detachment alone. Harper sat down behind a rock and began checking his heat sinks, both his remaining ones from Earth, and the ones he currently owns from the Republic. Still plenty of ammo for this part of the battle. With that thought clear of his mind, he looked toward team RWBY and Ahsoka, who were chatting. He sighed, then reloaded his rifle and sang quietly as he set up the Cain as a mortar.

"On a cold winter's night, the message came, the general's no more... Homeward Brethren~... Over mountains, through the bitter cold, we march on, we march with our heads bowed down in shame!" He whispered as he set up the legs of the mortar.

The song he sang was Ruina Imperii, an ancient song to his world, a song of Lament for the death of a great empire. The boy didn't remember where he had heard it, first, but he remembered it very well, and could only sing on as he remembered his times on the SSV _Normandy._

"Droids, dead ahead." Smirked Yang, cracking her knuckles. "Ya ready to shoot, Harper?"

The boy grinned, took aim with the launcher and calculated everything in his head, then started charging the shot as a bunch of Geonosians and droids closed in on them.

"Height set... Elevation ready, detonation synched... Charged..." Stated Harper, taking aim with Weiss looking at him carefully set up the shot. "Say hello to my little friend, Geos!"

The shot erupted from the Cain and lurched up into the air, then arched down toward the formation of troops, as Harper readied his M99 for another shot and the girls readied their weapons to take out the enemy survivors, should there be any. The cain came close enough and began to flash, then Harper flicked a switch and, Kaboom.

The shockwave and EMP blast sent the droids Reeling, while the Geo soldiers were all but erased from existence. Harper's scream joined the soothing sound of the detonation, and the boy sent a gunshot downrange, nailing three droids. He looked at the girls and nodded, then said through the blaster fire that erupted toward them, with a loud yell,

"ANY TIME YOU FIVE WANNA JOIN IN, IT'D BE GRAND!"

And as if on cue, Yang, aided by one of Weiss' Glyphs, sent a round downrange, blasting a bunch of droids out of the way, Super-battle-droids, nonetheless. Harper grinned as he saw Ruby join in too, alongside Blake, firing rounds toward the droids, and soon found himself yanking out his Mattock and aiding the girls with a sustained fire arc. Droids began climbing to them as laser impacts intensified around them, and Harper quickly slid his gun behind his back, yanked out a vibrosword from his pocket and readied himself to cut some droids apart. As one droid commando climbed too close to him, he parried a slice from his right, then another from his left and, soon, cut the two droids' heads off, and then tore their chests apart with one hit.

"Wow." Weiss said, sending a hailstorm of ice spikes toward the droids and killing a few more. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Sword training I received from my days in November Seven." Stated the boy, grinning to his ears as he remembered his training. Soon, with a whirlwind biotic slash, he took out three more droids and deflected five blaster shots. Weiss joined him, stabbing at the droids through-and-through and using ice glyphs to destroy them. The two soon turned to face Ruby and Yang knocking droids out together, with Yang punching one into an orange rock, while Ruby slipped and slid with her Crescent Rose, slicing multiple droids in half, then taking aim and firing toward them, then joined Ahsoka, pushing herself up using the force, then charging a force smash, she beamed down, sending fifteen droids flying, of which Blake killed some with quick, successive blasts from the Gambol Shroud, then using it as a whip-chain weapon and cutting multiple droids in a whirlwind. The fight went on.

"This isn't a fight!" Stated Ahsoka, sending three droids flying over the edge with force push and looking at the girls as the six of them went back-to-back "This is some high-grade scrapping!"

"Don't get cocky, Ahsoka! 'member, we're still alone here! The droids could overrun us any moment they wanted!" Stated Harper, soon getting himself to shut up as he saw an air raid move in alongside General Skywalker's forces. A Y-Wing diverted off course and dropped a droid-buster rocket onto the area, all the droids being shocked. Team RWBY cheered as they came out victorious out of the encounter. A LAAT dropship landed next to them, clones coming out and securing the area, along with a certain Jedi general.

"Well done girls, lieutenant." Stated Luminara Unduli with a relaxed smile. "I have not seen a bunch of Jedi padawans fight harder than the five of you, and Harper's aid must have been incommensurably great."

"Into our motherland, the droid armies marched." Smirked the boy, saluting the general. "It was really more to the girls. Like you said, a bunch of Jedi like them come rarely."

"Indeed Harper, but I have news." Luminara answered, crossing her arms. "You spoke of your homeworld under siege by the Reaper armada, have you not?"

"Indeed, ma'am. Why?" Inquired Harper curiously, his arms crossed.

"Follow me, we will talk more when we meet back up with Skywalker and Kenobi. Girls, hop on. I will drop you off then go back to my ship to talk with Harper."

The squad boarded the vehicle together, celebrating their victory over the enemy army, but Harper could only feel that, whatever Luminara was about to tell him was gonna shock him, so he steeled himself.

* * *

 **CIS Space. Planet of Jakku.**

Count Dooku kneeled before the hologram of his master, a woman wearing a dark cloak with a devilish grin on her face. She looked at her bowing apprentice and held the fiendish grin.

"Rise, my apprentice." Stated the woman, Dooku responding by standing up. "I hear the planet of Geonosis is under siege?"

"Indeed, Master... The Republic has hit Geonosis hard, but I do believe we may be able to push them."

"No, Dooku. The Geonosian queen will take care of them... Until then, I need you and Ventress to move out... Recover a very... Important artifact out of the Gallian Consulate of United Planets."

"Yes, Master. I shall see to it."

"Very well, Dooku. I bid you a good day." Stated, the woman. She shut the comm and Dooku moved out of the room, to his ship.

"I do your every bidding, Empress Hrist..."


	7. Chapter 7:Taking out the Comms Relay

"Wait, what the hell?!"

Harper's response was as normal as any other normal human beings would be upon hearing what he heard. He looked toward Luminara and her padawan Barris, with his arms crossed and shaking his head. "That's impossible." He stated, looking back at the girls, who were about as shocked as him. It was the most incomprehensible thing to hear for him. He sighed deeply, then looked toward Luminara. "You're saying there's ANOTHER EARTH AND A HUMAN ALLIANCE HERE?!"

"Yes." Luminara stated, looking him straight in the eye. "The Gallian Consulate of United Planets. We've made contact with them a few months ago."

"And when the hell was the Republic gonna tell me about it?!" He demanded, looking angered. "If there's another Earth somewhere around here, I NEED To make contact with them!"

"Harper, our first encounters with them weren't that peaceful." Stated Ahsoka, placing her hand upon his shoulder. "We're in a treatise with them right now. We don't go into their territory, we don't fight."

Harper sighed, then looked at Ahsoka and nodded, stepping off toward team RWBY, as a green light flooded the ship's bay, calling to prepare for the landing. The doors opened and the whizzing and humming of the LAAT Drop ship's Ion Engines filled the hold as they prepared to touch down. Harper looked to see Skywalker's and Kenobi's command center behind the lines of trenches in which clones of all three battalions were with their weapons trained forward. Ahead, a massive shield lay way back, behind an anti-air battery and comm relay they were just out of reach of.

"I guess Aerial Assault is off the table!" Blake said, looking from afar at the droid positions.

"Definitely." Answered Harper thruthfully. "Droid AA is nothing to joke about!"

As the LAAT the crew found themselves aboard prepped to touch down, below they could see Clones with rifles at the ready. Several had bazookas planted on their shoulders as they prepared to fire in case of anything. And that likely 'anything' could come at any given moment. Three aircraft made a fly-by of the area, but were soon shot down. The droids' air force was not getting intel this time. The aircraft touched down on its landing skids, a quietened thud and the ship's shaking, the only thing sounding off in the immediate vicinity. Luminara, Harper, the girls and a few troops dropped out of the vehicle, weapons at the ready and looked toward Skywalker and Kenobi walking toward them.

To Harper's sights, however, came a unit that had him straight-up frightened of what was going on. He saw soldiers in a dark-grey trench coat, with heavy armor padding and strange, almost Kar98-like blasters in their arms. The soldiers wore the unbelievably hellish-looking gas masks, painted white with a skull pattern on it to seem like an actual skull with the eye sockets bulging out, glass-filled, with two tubes beating off to the backpacked filter and a grey steel helmet, or Stahlhelm on their heads. Their leader, a soldier in a highly-decorated, open trench coat, more heavily armored. His clothing was black, he wore an officer's hat and had a small pistol in his hand, which seemed to be a slug thrower which Harper recognized, A Walther P38 pistol, and in his other hand, a cutlass through which rippled blue energy, a vibro-cutlass if you will. His rank bars were those of a Captain and his hat bore a death's skull with two cutlasses in an X-shape behind it.

These soldiers where a unit of soldiers Harper had only heard of while around here, always supposing they were Clones with the temperament of the Krogan from his galaxy, and the strength. When he looked at them, they sure seemed like it, but they were utterly different. The soldiers, though only men, all of them, were the bringers of death and destruction. Soldiers he hoped he would never need to meet. They were the GCUP's Death Korps of Krieg. Born on the planet with the same name, Krieg, or War, in old German, they were strangely devilish for normal people, and to Harper, it wasn't something sane to see. He noticed a single clone trooper attempt to talk to them, Captain Rex, but their leader, a 'Watchman', or 'Commissar', dependent on Harper's wish to call him out. They, these soldiers, were scaring the biotic 17-year-old to the bone.

Their battle doctrine was never sane. It was throwing themselves into combat without fear of death. Hatred toward their enemy and a strong belief in defending the Gallian Consulate came first for these crazed, fanatical men. They were considered the reapers of souls on the battlefield. Be you human, Clone, Alien or droid, you had no chance against them. With their weapons in hand, a bayonet, sword or just their bare hands, they could tear you apart in the blink of an eye and not look back.

Skywalker tapped Harper on the shoulder, to which the boy turned to the man, his eyes leaving the Deathbringers and turning to him. Anakin nodded, then signaled him to follow to the CP. As they walked off, Harper's eyes were locked with the Death Korps soldiers, his thoughts still running as to how insane these men could be. Even so, his thoughts turned around as he remembered they were still men, still able to die from as simple as a blaster to their chests, but not afraid of it. Harper walked off to the CP and shook his head, then looked toward the Jedi and pointed at the DKK.

"What... What are they doing here... They're not clones, right? They can't be clones... Not this ruthless anyhow..." He stated, to which he received three nods. Unduli, Kenobi and Skywalker.

"What's the matter? We told you we were in a treatise with the Consulate." Unduli stated, to which Harper shook his head.

"These guys scare the crap out of me... Who the hell are they?!" He inquired, curiosity overturning his fear.

"The Consulate's military advisor called them 'Death Korps of Krieg' when he brought them forward to us as reinforcements." Skywalker said, sighing. "They're not normal, I'll admit this much to you, Harper."

"They're..." Ruby stated, examining them from a distance. A cold shiver ran up her spine. "Yeah... I mean... They're scary as heck..."

"You don't know the half of it." Stated Ahsoka, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "DK are insane. I've seen one gut a person with nothing but his Bayonet when he ran out of blaster ammo."

"Yikes..." Yang said, looking toward the DK. "Dust... Harper's right... They look like frickin' Death just stepped in, in the shape of men wearing gas masks..."

"Well, expect to see them in combat soon." Skywalker said. "Help us make up the plan of attack to take down that shield dome, anti-air battery and the comlink to their other troops, we'll let them do the talking with the Geonosians."

"Understood, sir," Stated Harper. "let's get this over with, finally."

* * *

The squads were preparing for the charge in their trenches, checking their arms, their gear and the like. Harper and Weiss moved ahead through the trenches, to the sight of the Death Korps soldiers. The Commissar turned toward the pair and signaled his soldiers to split apart and the troopers instantly followed orders without question. The DK leader signaled the pair to close in and they did, forming up behind the lip of the trench, which was tall. Harper immediately noticed two DK soldiers manning heavy machineguns off to the side, with massive bullets resembling Grenade Launchers' or howitzers' rounds in them, while two were occupying positions with binoculars and their rifles by their hips. The brutal doctrine these soldiers had adopted had trained them to emplace barbed wire at the end of each trench part.

The Commissar looked toward them and nodded, then signaled them to follow. The Huntress and soldier followed the DK commander into a tent which was camouflaged in Desert colors. Harper had holstered his weapon and Weiss was holding onto the hilt of her Myrtenaster, but without worrying about actually getting killed, knowing these men were their allies. Still, it wasn't easing her how these men were known for their ruthlessness to even the smallest threat against them.

The Commissar walked toward a table on which rested maps of both the enemy trenches, or positions in this case, their hive-homes and droid gun emplacements. Three DK soldiers were looking over the _No Man's Land_ portion of the battlefield, which was chock-full of holes from blaster shells. Around the massive oak table holding the map were several computers, all of which were guiding with Republic targeting systems and ships above. As the DK Commissar moved to the table, she signaled Weiss and Harper to come closer. The soldier soon removed her helmet, to reveal a woman with long, wavy silver hair and red eyes, along a fair complexion and a cut across her left eye, from a bayonet by the looks of it. The looks of the DK commander shocked Harper and Weiss however. The woman placed her mask onto the table, then crossed her arms.

"A Human soldier from an alternate version of Holy Terra and a woman, known as a huntress, born on a world unknown to our own." She stated, looking at them. "Lieutenant John Harper and Padawan Weiss Schnee. I am Commissar Captain Selvaria Bles, the commander of the Emperor's Vengeance. This unit of Death Korps you see before you."

"Nice to meet you..." Weiss said, scared, looking around at the other DK soldiers as the Captain placed her mask and hat back on her head.

"I was assigned here to help ease tensions between us and the Republic, with intent on an alliance, by Her Highness, the God Archduchess of Terra and her husband, the God Archduke." She stated, her voice now heavily modified. "We had never expected several other-worldly people to into the lives of those we attempt to aid, but you could say luck was with both us and the Republic, for without your appearance, I fear we may well have been at war with both the CIS and Republic."

"How did our appearing out of the fucking blue help with anything?" Harper inquired.

"It is hard to explain. You must move back to your lines now, Lieutenant. We shall speak again after the battle." Selvaria stated, cocking her pistol. Harper nodded and the two saluted, then left. The Commissar captain looked to her men, then pulled out her sword and walked out, leaving her chiefs-of-staff deal with their own. The woman walked to the lip of the trench then walked up on top of it as Republic artillery roared to life. She looked toward her men, then heaved her sword and pointed it toward their target.

"ACHTUNG! MEN OF THE HOLY CONSULATE! WE CHARGE WITH OUR EMPEROR AND EMPRESS IN OUR HEARTS, THEIR BLESSINGS IN OUR WILLPOWER AND THEIR EYES UPON US FROM HOLY TERRA ITSELF!" She stated, looking forward. "KRIEG, KRIEG, KRIEG!"

" _KRIEG_!" Chanted the Death Korps soldiers several times, fire burning in their hearts and their weapons now charging, their safeties off. The soldiers stood up and off the trench edges with their weapons pointed forward. Selvaria grinned behind her helmet, then heaved her sword up and slammed it forward. "CHARGE! FOR THE EMPEROR!" Selvaria screamed, to which the three hundred men of the Korps charged, with the woman in lead.

Harper and the others got the signals. Every one of them charged forward and several Gunships took off. Ahead of them, the shield in which resided the command center for the CIS Comms center, in which resided several hundred soldiers, many more droids and several divisions' worths of Geonosians. As the squads finally stepped through the shield, blaster fire and gunfire rippled from the Death Korps, who were taking near-to-no losses as they engaged the CIS soldiers' trenches. Selvaria jumped in a trench, shot two soldiers with her Walther, then gutted through another two with her Cutlass, stabbing a third right through his neck and head.

She then turned her attention toward a few battle droids rushing toward them. Her soldiers' blasters sounded off around her, hammering through five droids with one shot each. Several Death Korps soldiers engaged CIS Human troopers at bayonet, gutting through several of them. As Selvaria looked out and up, she saw Harper advancing, his biotic barrier flaring as blaster fire dissipated off of it. Beside him, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, using their weapons to fend off the other droids in the area, along with several Geonosians that attempted to snatch-and-grab a few of their troops. Clones joined the DK onto the ground-based combat. Alongside their flaming orange blasters, teemed blue ones from the clones'.

Harper, above the Korps and watching the slaughter ensue, even witnessing a boy about his age from the CIS Get stabbed through the throat by a DK bayonet, engaged with Carnifex pistol and Biotic barriers at close range as Yang and Blake placed charges onto the Droid anti-air batteries, which also served as anti-tank cannons if the need arose. Through-and-through, the mission was going as planned. Harper knocked another Geonosian bug out of the sky with a well-placed pistol Shot, while Ruby's Crescent Rose boomed in the background, taking ten Super Battle Droids within a five-shot span. Two for each bullet. He grinned as he saw the cat-girl and the blonde place the last charge, then signaled them to slide down to the DK. The squad took and jumped from the slope, sliding downhill toward the safe positions the Death Korps had occupied. Harper's Omnitool lit up in his hand and he pressed three buttons, one for arming the charge, the second for setting the timer, and third just to say 'fuck it' to timers. He detonated the charges, five massive explosions creating small rockfalls around them. The gunnery was off and then, Republic cannon fire erupted.

Five AT-TE Walkers walked toward the targets, their main cannons powering and firing toward the enemy shield generator and radar relay. Five rounds streaked in and blew up. The building shattered, dust covering the area around it. Cheers erupted from the trenchlines around the structure, everyone with wide smiles on their faces. Above them, several hundred more LAATs flew, dropping off more troops to aid them.

"We fuckin' did it!" Cheered Harper, pumping his fist in the air. "Now, to that fuckin' factory!" He stated, cocking his rifle. He saw the other drop ships land and drop off any remaining soldier, then return into the air, the airspace now cleared.


	8. Chapter 8:The Retribution

_**AN:I'M BACK, BITCHES!**_

 _ **Near the Droid production Facility, Republic Camp, Geonosis.**_

Blaster fire surrounded Harper as multiple CIS Soldiers charged them. The few humanoid creatures that fought alongside the Droid armies were the CIS' counterpart to the Droids and to the Republic Clones, people to be sorry for and cannon fodder. They wore a grey uniform with the unusual black boots of military troopers and had several pouches of ammo and grenades stuck to their barely protective breastplate. Harper snapped his rifle toward one and fired, the M-96 Mattock's muzzle spat out a pair of superheated slugs on rapid-fire. Even though on semi-automatic, Harper's rifle was a strong weapon to use. Add to that the biotics the boy wielded, it was just getting worse for his enemies.

The shots gutted through the CIS troopers' poor and thin armor, slicing through their internal organs with deadshot precision. Blood spilled onto the sand below, red like a human's, as the one he targeted fell down with a thump, his eyes wide from seeing a slug thrower. Harper snapped his rifle toward another target and, with his usual cold precision, blasted him through the head. The soldier's helmet shattered on impact. Around the dead soldier, two more fell just before he hit the ground. Harper wasn't leaving anything to chance today.

Blaster fire from the GCUP's Death Korps knifed through the dusty air of the planet, nailing another group of enemies, these, Super-Battle Droids, melting their internals and thin armor plating. Harper looked to the right, to see Selvaria, their Commissar, firing with her Las pistol. The heated Ionized gas left the chamber in a straight line, more a laser than a blaster's plasma-fed shots. The woman, clad in the gas mask and gold-trimmed armor, nodded to Harper, then looked at her troopers, the bane of anyone who saw them first, ordering them to fire front. More Lasgun fire arched down from their dug trenches and gutted through the lines of charging droids and troopers.

Weiss, to the left, was using Ice Glyphs in unison with Ruby firing her Sniper-Scythe, Crescent Rose, at the upcoming squadrons. He saw ice flowers blossom onto the sandy _no-man's land_ ahead, littered with corpses and droid carcasses, all burned, charred and riddled with bullet holes, impaling both droid and soldier alike. She nodded to Harper as she noticed him staring in her direction, then continued to work with Ruby. Beside them, Rex and his clones opened fire from their blaster rifles, leaving no enemy alive in their little onslaught.

"Geez, don't these guys ever give up?" Yang asked, firing from a Lasgun she'd received from a dead DK Trooper, going beside Harper. He shook his head, focusing on another target. He squeezed the trigger, then another two fell, a double-kill shot. The girl grinned, then gave him a thumbs up and turned back to firing with the Las.

"There's so many of them you don't even need to aim!" added Blake, firing from Gambol Shroud's pistol-form.

"Hehe." Ahsoka snickered, using the force to keep some at bay, while the others she dealt with using her lightsaber. "Wait till they come in close."

"Selvaria!" Harper yelled, ducking behind cover to reload the Mattock. The woman nodded to him, then kept firing.

"Something the matter, Lieutenant?" She asked, focusing fire on several droids that ran toward her. Harper ran to her side, then flared his biotics, throwing a singularity in the middle of a droid squad on her left flank she and her troopers had noticed but couldn't engage. The desert-camouflaged robots lifted off the ground, surrounded by an ominous purple aura. He finished each off with well-placed head shots and central-processor firing.

"Couple droids flanked ya." Harper smirked. Selvaria nodded to him, then shot behind him, killing an assassin droid that nearly had his ass on a silver platter. He looked back, then to Selvaria again.

"Now we're even." She answered, grinning behind her mask.

"Right..." Harper said, nodding to her.

Ahead of them, the final wave appeared. Hundreds of troopers, supported by mechanized droid units and even two gunships rushed forward, alongside Geonosioan fliers. The rattle of the Korps' Bolter cannons sounded off, rounds the size of Harper's fist hurtling toward the air targets. Flak detonations buried large, sharp pieces of shrapnel into the Geonosian bugs, all the while Melta Cannons and Lascannons fired toward the advancing lines, gunning them down in the hundreds. Crimson lances knifed through the soldiers' bodies, gutting them, splitting them in half, while others took Melta fire and were burning like hell.

"Sheesh, and I thought the Cadians rushed into certain death..." Selvaria murmured, opening up with her pistol again on a pair of unsuspecting bastards. Five fell dead from one Blaster shot and she sighed, then took cover. "I've had about enough of this..." She tapped her microphone twice and whispered " _The Consulate Protects"_ into the earpiece. Ground shook below their feet, rocks thudded and blaster fire stopped going to and fro between the Republic lines and the CIS Chargers. Selvaria took her helmet off and grinned, then looked to Harper and yelled "REINFORCEMENTS INCOMING, LIEUTENANT!" and covered her ears. Above them, two shells about the size of two large male humans flew into the sky. They struck the CIS lines and detonated, implanting into the ground and shattering part of their trenches, massive, smoldering craters as testament to their impact.

The rattle of a loud engine screamed into everyone's ears. Yang cocked her head to the right, where the DK garages resided and her eyes widened in complete shock... A large combat tack rolled through the sheets covering them from the entry. Its turret had a large cannon mounted in its mouth, the muzzle big enough to fit a human head in. Two side turrets resided with Lascannons and pairs of Bolter Cannons implanted into each. On its back, a large blue radiator was covered by a hardlight shield, something near-impenetrable even to the blasters and Lascannons used by their own. Its slanted front was thick, heavily armored, its sides too and its tracks were thick and large, covering a large portion of the ground. And on its front?

On its front was the insignia of Selvaria's squad, Death's head with two las rifles crossed behind it, painted red, their patterned camouflage present around it.

"What in the name of all that is fucking saint and holy in this god-forsaken Galaxy is _THAT FUCKING TANK?!"_ Harper yelled, shock registering across his face, mixed in with fear and happiness. His voice cracked at the word tank.

"It is a Baneblade!" Selvaria said, then cued her mic, pridefully barking to its crew "Bring it forth, gentlemen! RAIN HELL UPON THE SEPARATISTS!"

Its twin lascannons with its quad bolters screamed, gunning through CIS Lines as the tank rolled ahead at half-speed, a bloody fast one for a tank that size. 45 mph. Its main gun roared and another shell shot off into the distance, tearing part of the rock face cliff the Seppies were hiding behind in half. Bolters rained fire upon the enemy positions, pinning anyone still alive down, while the Las turrets picked anyone dumb enough to raise his head over he trench lip off. Harper grinned, then nodded to everyone else in his vicinity and cocked back the bolt of his Mattock.

The separatist forces routed as heavy fire was aimed at them. Blaster, Las and Bullet shot off toward them, killing more than they could replenish. Their retreat, even more complicated by their commanders dying from the first wave of bullets. Cheers erupted across the Republic trenches as the fire staved off. Harper looked to Selvaria, who was grinning to her ears, her hands interlaced behind her back.

"Ah, a resounding victory..." She said, looking to Skywalker, who was about as shocked as Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

"They..." The red girl said, sighing. "They brought a TANK?!" She looked to Anakin "And we didn't know about this?"

"It's... Not exactly something you'd miss..." Obi-Wan said, considering options. "Even aboard a Venator..."

"True." Selvaria said, walking past them. "But you did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to have a word with Lieutenant Harper and team RWBY..."

In team RWBY's little holdout of the trench, Harper and Yang, now officially off-duty for the day, were playing Poker. And Yang was losing badly.

"Call." Harper said, pokerface on. Yang groaned.

"Fold." She placed her cards on the table. "I'm done playing for now, Harper."

"Alright, blondie." He smirked, pulling his winnings to him, just as Selvaria walked inside, looking awfully calm.

"Ah, hello, Selvaria." Ruby chirped, waving to her happily. The silver-haired soldier waved back, then straightened up.

"What brings you to our neck of the woods, Selv?" Yang asked, leaning back on her chair.

"Straight to the point, I see, miss Xiao-Long." Selvaria answered, nodding. She pulled out her holopad and flicked through two images, then handed it to Harper.

"No fuckin' way..." Harper grinned, looking at Selvaria. Her cherry eyes were sparkling with happiness, but she didn't much show it.

"She is yours..." Selvaria said, crossing her arms. "Waiting in Garage Three."

"What?" Yang asked, straightening up on her chair. Harper looked to the girls, grinning, then tossed the pad to them. Everyone gathered around as Yang picked up the tablet and whistled in low-pitch, then grinned. "This baby's ours?"

Selvaria nodded, "The _Retribution_ is all yours... And we have a little request."

"Shoot." Harper said, crossing his arms.

"There've been some reports of strange activity occurring just at our border with the Republic. The GCUP remains neutral in this conflict, but we still worry and fear of Certain incursions from both Republic and CIS ships." Selvaria said, looking at her TACCOM on her forearm. "I'll be sending details to _Retribution_ 's computer the moment you wish to depart. I will speak to Generals Kenobi and Skywalker about your departure and will assign a trooper from my unit to help you."

"Wait, lemme get this straight." Yang said, lifting her hand. "You're askin' us to do something like FLYING A SPACE SHIP, to skim on the border between two Galactic Superpowers, one of which is new to this whole Galaxy and even newer to us, and make sure no one's trying anything?!"

"Yes?" Selvaria mused, nodding to Yang. "I don't see the problem in a routine patrol mission."

"Then why the hell not have one of your own do it, Selv?" Harper inquired. Selvaria nodded, then looked about.

"Truth is, it's on the Republic's side of the border, in the Lothal system." She answered. "Nary a GCUP Ship can go in and out of that area without Republic or Senate rules forbidding them to do so."

"I see..." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "So you're thinking that Harper, who is a soldier for the Republic, alongside us, Padawans, can go around Lothal aboard a ship and search the area for any clue of border-crossing?"

"I was hoping it to be so, miss Schnee." Selvaria mused, rubbing her forearm. "My orders were to go there as soon as possible, but I fear anything of the sorts may cause turmoil between us and the Republic... And we have already had ONE war between us and them almost a year ago."

"What?!" The whole room chorused, looking at Selvaria, eyes glazed.

"Yes." Selvaria said. "I fought in that war as a Death Korps recruit... It was not a good moment when my homeworld, Krieg, got burned to cinders."

"I see..." Harper said, sighing. Something clicked in his mind as he remembered he was in a similar jam... "Alright, Selv, you got yourself a deal. Just let the Jedi know about this."

"I will do so, Lieutenant. _Viel Glück._ " She said, saluting him happily. She turned and left them alone, then Harper looked to the girls.

"You lot ready to get off this dusty rock?" He asked, grinning as he crossed his arms. The girls nodded.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles.

...

Inside Garage 3 (Which, considerately, was a dug-in HANGAR with DK Troops marching all across), team RWBY and even Harper himself stood, shocked, as they faced with a strange ship. Too small in size to be called a freighter, but also too big to be called a Fighter or Tug ship, this thing was an amalgam of both designs. Five frontal-facing machinegun pods were streaming across the front of the ship's hammerhead-like design. On and around, turrets with several missile racks dotted the ship's outer hull, a couple even implanted near the cockpit. A sight to behold was also its small-but-deadly frontal-facing Kinetic cannon, a MAC, as called by the Korps. It was painted jet-black and on its side, the word _Retribution_ was etched in bright white letters.

"This is..." Ruby mused, almost smiling.

"Awesome..." Yang whispered, grinning. Harper nodded, then stepped up to the Ship, placing his hands on the front of the dark hull.

"Missile pods, a Mass Accelerator and several Gun pods facing front..." He said, grinning. "This ain't no simple freighter alright..."

"Sure doesn't look like one... It's... pretty big..." Weiss added, examining every design bit of the ship.

"Is it to your liking?" Asked a voice from behind them. The five turned to see a girl with short but wavy dark-blue hair, eyes, fair skin and a Death Korps engineer uniform standing face-to-face with them. She was small, about their age and, on her uniform, a Long Las sniper rifle resided, strapped to her back, while on her hip there was a slug-pistol, an engraved Luger pistol. Her uniform had the ranks of Corporal stuck to the eppauletes beside the Engineer symbol.

"Uhh... Yep..." Harper said, then looked back to the ship. "What design is-"

"Hammerhead." The blue-haired girl answered. "My own cross between a Corvette-class and a fighter. It's the first Gunship of its kind from the Home Fleet to here."

"You built THIS?" Ruby demanded, pointing back at the ship, with a large smile. She nodded, then snapped-to.

"Death Korps Corporal Isara Gunther, reporting for duty." She said excitedly. "I'll be your liaison to the GCUP and anything you need, feel free to ask me for it."

"Understood." Harper said, then extended his hand in sign of friendship. "Welcome aboard, Isara. We go by first-name basis here."

"Got it." She said, shaking his hand. "Let me take you on a tour of the _Retribution._ "

"Lead the way, Isara." Ruby said. Everyone started moving up to the entry ramp of the ship. Walking aboard, they could already feel the metallic smell of the air scrubbers working aboard the ship. On and around the main deck, they saw grating and heard their boots clattering against it as they walked. The Hallways weren't that cramped, usually for two-three persons or more. The place had several large rooms in which they walked, the common bunks. Inside them, they saw three terminals, three beds and three lockers, all stuck to the walls, alongside a small table in the middle. Isara told them most of the Common bunks were like this, since the place could be used to carry soldiers. They moved to the back of the ship, where the Ammo crates for both lasguns and the ship's main weaponry resided. Large crates filled the cargo hold of the ship front-to-back, left-to-right. The Engineering console was in the far back of the room, so they moved back to the hallways.

Past the midpoint of the ship, in which resided the Mess Hall, built for over thirteen people, there was the Captain and bridge crew quarters, one room for each member, which consisted of the NAV officer, the gunnery engineer and two others, the engineering commander and the last member was in case someone got knocked out. He also served as security as far as Isara explained, but the bridge could usually run without all the crew and it did, mostly. Only the captain/pilot occupied the place at the time of travel. As Isara entered the Captain's quarters with the others, they found themselves face-to-face with a larger room than the other single-crew and multi-crew rooms... A large two-person bed resided in the middle and around, shelves filled with books dotted the room, alongside a four-person acacia wood table. Implanted into the wall was a large holoscreen used for both coms and news and the outer hull wall was largely 'see-through', but also not that at all. Outside sensors and cameras allowed an unobstructed view of the outside, while the people outside couldn't see a thing going on inside the room, and it could be turned off or switched to coms as well.

"And that's the ship." Isara said, leaning against the wall of the bridge, which was more like a cockpit. Harper nodded to her, then crossed his arms.

"I'll admit, I've never seen better-designed ships. Both comfy and functional." He said, smiling. "Good job, Isara." He looked back to team RWBY, who were in complete and utter shock, still scanning their surroundings and added "Girls, to your stations... We'll be taking off soon and I want all final pre-flight Checklists accomplished." He looked to Isara "Since you designed this and know the translight drive this ship uses, go to Engineering with Blake. I'll be the one piloting."

"Understood." Isara said, snapping-to, then hurriedly leaving. Harper looked to Weiss and pointed at the chair beside him, saying "Weiss, you're our NAV. You'll tell me coordinates for our destinations and put us through the drive-initiation sequence." He looked to Ruby and pointed at cameras and sensors "You're dealing with our external security and sensors, Ruby. Gotta have our eyes wide everywhere we go, even if it's friendly territory." He pointed at Yang, then at gunnery "Yang, you're our gunnery girl. I got frontal batteries and the MAC Cannon, while you have the rockets. Give'em hell if we need to."

"Gotcha, boss." The girls chorused, then rushed off to their destined positions as per orders. Harper sat down in the pilot's seat and pressed a few buttons. Ahead of him, blue light emerged and materialized into a holographic monitor of ship status, angle and the likes, all instruments he needed to keep this ship straight. He pushed his hand against a three-dimensional holographic button, then the engines whirred to life in the back of the ship. He nodded to Weiss, who placed her hands on her console, on which colors flickered on and off as she looked at them, then, a holographic star map appeared, showing their current location and several pre-travelled destinations.

"Engines online..." Harper said, running his hand over a two-prong holographic symbol. The ship's engines roared and he grinned "NAV Online... Gunnery online, Engineering online... All stations occupied..." He slowly wrapped his fingers around the control sticks of the craft, speed and the pitch-yaw-roll of the ship and he heard the thrusters power. "Death Korps OKW, _Retribution,_ requesting permission to undock and leave atmosphere."

Harper grinned as at the front, the two large metallic doors of the hangar slid apart, warning lights blaring. Ahead of them, dozens of DK engineers and soldiers cleared. He pressed a button and lifted the boarding ramp, pressed another and lifted the landing gear, and, as the ship shuddered, having to stand on its own power, he pushed the throttle to max. The ship shot out of the bay and Harper cheered, dumping a few flares in a barrel roll to say goodbye to the Republic-DK troops on the ground. Around them, orange sky turned amber, then blue, then black with white dots.

"We're out of the atmosphere and leaving gravity pull of the planet." Harper said, then looked to the right to see the Republic fleet. "Transmitting 'leave' codes to the Fleet... Sent. Weiss, coordinates to Lothal?"

"Locked in." Weiss said, looking confused "I think..."

Harper checked, then nodded "Locked in alright..." He ran his hand over the two-prong speed hologram and nodded "Entering... Woah..."

Ahead of the ship, space rippled with lightning, then blasted open, a blue, rippling whirlwind of a wormhole. Harper cued his mic to talk to Isara, but she just said " _That's our way of going around unopposed. Slipstream Space, basically upgraded Hyperspace."_ The engineer's voice sounded rough, all thanks to the engineering bay's weakly com relay. Harper grinned, then eased the ship into the place. It slid in safely, then the wormhole disappeared completely as they vanished with it. The cockpit was filled with the blue light of the 'non-there' Slipspace.

"Woah..." Ruby said, smiling. "It's beautiful out there..."

"And dangerous, I bet." Weiss said, crossing her arms as she leaned back into her seat.

"Alright..." Harper said, slinging back with his seat and climbing out. "We gotta figure out who gets which room while we're aboard."

"Woah, woah, wait!" Yang said, stopping Harper. "Yer thinkin' Selv's gonna let us keep this? I think we're doing a short run and then returning this back to the DK."

"Nope." He answered, handing Yang a tablet. "She transferred this to my account. Every ounce of maintenance, I pay it, resupply, I pay it, everything in the likes... She's ours now, girls. Enjoy her."

"Y-you're joking? No way..." Ruby asked, shocked. Harper shook his head, grinning.

"Alright..." The girls said, then gathered in the middle, a team meeting minus Blake. Harper looked on, a droplet of sweat trickling down his forehead. The girls turned toward him and crossed their arms.

"Yer takin' the pilot/captain's room, ya good with that?" Yang asked, grinning. Harper nodded.

"Uhh... Sure... Why just-" He asked, but was interrupted by Weiss stepping up to him.

"Don't question it. You helped us integrate here, so this is our way of saying thanks." She stated in that usually superior-aura-and-tone attitude. "Don't waste it."

"Understood, Ice Queen." Harper smirked, then nodded to the others "Thanks, ladies. I'll be in my bunk, then..."

And with that he left the room.

 _ **Five hours later. ETA to Lothal System, sixteen minutes.**_

Inside his new room, Harper played a song from his helmet on speakers, his door closed. Paint It Black by Rolling Stones was a calm song for the boy, something to remind him of a life lost. He was singing alone, cleaning his weapons and his armor, the top of his armor and clothing removed as he was sweating in them. He had already placed several pieces of his galaxy's tech around the room, to remind him of home. He smiled, then threw his rifle off to the side, put back together and clean, and dropped back into his bed, back first, hands interlaced behind his head. He grinned and closed his eyes as the music played on in his ears, then switched to Bad Moon Rising by CCR.

"Ah..." Harper sighed, smiling. "I love these old-but-gold songs..." He stared out into the blackish-blueness of Slipspace as it hurtled past them, considering how fast both that and Hyperspace are compared to his own FTL drives and not-so-restricted. He grinned, then stood up and took his dog tags from around his neck, examining them with a smile. His ID Code, '117-Sierra-Two' was etched in the metal. He shook them a bit, clanging them together, then wrapped them back around her neck and stood up. He heard the door slide apart and saw Weiss walk in. She wanted to say something, but covered her eyes.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry!" She said, keeping her eyes covered. She was blushing... But peeking from time to time. She yelled 'WHO THE DUST TAKES THEIR SHIRT OFF IN THEIR ROOM?"

"Heh..." The boy smirked, putting his Alliance Marines N7 shirt back on. He looked to Weiss and said "It's all good now, Ice Queen."

"Okay..." She sighed, lowering her hands. "And don't call me that..."

"Sorry then." He said, leaning against the holo-wall behind him. "Need anything?"

"Came to let you know we're closing in on Lothal..." Weiss said calmly, crossing her arms as she heard the music playing in the background.

"Thanks." He answered, then nodded to her "I'll be right on the bridge. Tell everyone else to prep for exiting slipspace. Heard from Isara it's a pretty nauseating trip unless you're in a chair and strapped tight."

"Understood." She nodded. "I'll be going then..."

"You look a bit off... Something wrong?" He asked, walking up to her. She sighed and shook her head.

"I'll be okay for now. Thank you for worrying." She answered, then left the room.

Harper walked onto the bridge, his shirt, off-duty pants and dog-tags shining off. He nodded to everyone, then looked to Yang "Heat up weapons, Blondie. Just in case we're gonna need to make a hot exit."

"Oh, I'm good with those." Yang smirked, then turned to her seat. Harper took his seat in the pilot's chair and nodded to everyone. "Ready? Good..." He slid his hand over the speed prong, pulling back. "Disengaging slipspace..." And the nausea wave hit them. Yang groaned and Weiss held in a vomit, while Ruby readied herself to vomit in the background too. Space yet again materialized into the black inkiness of the void, with its white snowflakes peppering it. Ahead of them, a bright-blue star was shining off a few million kilometers from them. On the side, a dusty old frontier planet like Geonosis.

"So... We aren't here to land?" Ruby asked, examining the scanners.

"Nope." Harper answered. "There's a few large settlements on Lothal, but we ain't here to land on it. Ruby, start up a low-rez scanner ping, extend range to fifteen thousand kilometers."

"Uhh..." Ruby slid her hands over her screen and did exactly as asked, surprisingly. "Okay... Done... Scanning surrounding area and objects... Passive or active?'

"Active." He said. "I want everything from echoes to Hyperspace signs."

"Gotcha... Going active..." She clicked a button and dozens of images flickered onto her screen. In confusion, she just happened to press the right thing as she was gawking at her screen. "Done... Recent Hyperspace jump into the area... Nothing known about if they left or not..."

"Okay..." Harper murmured. "Powering engines, one-half-full... Answering..."

And the ship gently nudged forward as its back engines fired, contrails of fire pushing them forward into the void. Harper slowly maneuvered the ship as the scanner pings Ruby were doing were yielding near-to-no results. Around one of the debris fields near a gas giant in the system, something showed up on scanner. He nodded to Ruby, then told her "Go Dark. No scanners or anything." And she nodded, clicking her scanners off. The ship went into what Isara had dubbed 'Shadow Ops mode', where all non-essential systems were cut off and the ship's footprint in space was reduced to near-nil. They were truly testing the ship's abilities to the utmost, to Harper's unspoken wishes.

As they maneuvered through the large rocks within the Asteroid Field, up on one of the much largest asteroids in the field, buildings, large buildings with lights on, appeared. Several smaller craft moved about and around the tallest building of them all. Coms pinged and Harper looked to Weiss, who nodded as calmly as she could. Harper looked to Ruby and Yang, who were worried, and Isara and Blake, who came up to the place to see what was going on.

"What the hell is going on?" Isara demanded. "Shadow Ops shouldn't be detectable..." She gasped, then leaned on the console, shaking her head. "Oh no..."

"What?" Ruby chirped, worried.

"Those are... Insurgents..." The girl said, then looked to Weiss. "I can't believe my eyes... This is some form of Stronghold... Miss Schnee... Answer that. I'll be going off this bridge..." She walked off, muttering to herself "If they see Death Korps aboard this ship, they'll vaporize us all..."

"Right..." Weiss said, now full of worry. She flicked the coms on and the image of a man with a shaved head, silver eyes and a large cigar stuck in his mouth. The man wore a green military beret with a death's head on it and around him, three men in bright-white and red uniforms with hoods stood, Ballistic Rifles shouldered but not aimed. He growled, then puffed some cigar smoke onto the camera and looked at them, grinning.

" _Well, hello there."_ He threw some ash onto the floor, then nodded to Harper. "Y _ou folks look mighty interestin'_."

"Uhh... Thanks..." Harper said, a bit scared himself of the current situation, but not much. "I'm John Harper, captain and helmsman of the Freighter _Retribution._ To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

 _"I'm Colonel Jason Watts... Commander of this base and a leader of the Free Earth Front Rebellion..."_ The man grinned. " _Or, as the Gallian Consulate Imperialists call us,_ Innies _..."_ He laughed, then took a puff from his cigar again _"What's your business 'round Lothal there, Captain? You're lookin' pretty young, you and your beautiful crew members."_

"Large supply haul..." Harper lied, looking him right in the eye. "We stopped because one of our air scrubbers broke down."

" _Sounds rough."_ The man said, then puffed out the smoke. " _Say, if you want I can have my repair crews fix your scrubber up. Give us a chance to chat, Capt'n."_

"Thanks, but our engineer's got that in the bag..." The boy said, then leaned back. "However, maybe we can trade something for Info?"

" _Huh... A businessman then... Alright, what kind of info do you need?"_ Watts asked, crossing his arms and holding his smug grin. Harper nodded.

"We'll dock and talk face-to-face, Watts... But be advised, we're armed and if you or your lads try anything..." He pointed to Yang. "We're gonna hammer your little settlement with missiles."

" _Duly noted, Capt'n. Come aboard."_ Watts answered, unimpressed by Harper's threats. " _I'll be waiting in the hangar bay with my escort. Watts out."_ and he clicked the Com off. He looked to everyone and nodded, then said "You guys stay aboard... These bastards try anything, burst outta here ASAP, go to warn the Reps, Jedi, Selvaria, anyone. I'll be going to talk to Watts... Keep Isara hidden... I have a feeling Watts and his gents may not like a GCUP Reaper around."

"Wait, go in there _alone_ , Harper? You nuts?" Yang asked, crossing her arms. "Guy must have like, a good dozen of guards just around him!"

"I know." He stated, standing up from his seat and walking back to the room. "It's why I'll be carrying my gear with me aboard the station."

"Still, it's suicidal!" Weiss protested, standing up and walking beside him, angered. "I'm not letting you go down there alone!"

"Non-negotiable, Weiss." He said, turning toward her and stopping her, his voice full of resolve. "I'm not riskin' any of you on this one... It was my idea to come here after all. Won't risk losing any of you on some idiot move I made by accepting Selvaria's quest and ship."

"Still." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "I'm coming with."

He grinned "I can't change that, can I?"

Weiss shook her head "No."

"Alright..." Harper nodded, looking her in the eye "Meet me at the docking port as soon as we make it, armed and geared, got it?"

"Aye." Weiss nodded, then left. Harper ran to his room and, as soon as he got there, started strapping his armor to his body, with the Mattock and his heavy pistol. He strapped the rifle to his back, the pistol to his hip, then heard the clang of metal hitting metal. They'd docked. He ran off and met up with Weiss along the way. She was carrying a heavy combat armor, almost resembling his in some manner or form. She nodded to him and the two walked down the halls to the docking port. As they took the corner, ahead of them, two armed and armored men appeared, rifles slung behind their backs, and in the middle, a third man. Watts.

"Ah, captain Harper." He nodded to Harper, then looked to Weiss "And whom might you be, madam?"

"I am Weiss Schnee." She answered, her left-hand fingers wrapped around Myrtenaster's hilt.

"White Snow?" Watts asked. "Interesting name, my dear." He said softly, then looked to Harper. "Please, follow us, Captain, miss Schnee." He bowed to both, then turned heel. His two guards stepped aside and let Harper and Weiss go through, both moving reluctantly, every move they made, a twitchy one, uncertain of what came next. The group of five stepped out into a wide hallway with bright white lighting, much like Republic ships. Walking through them, they noticed guards moving about with other people, whom were unloading Cargo. Armor-Piercing ammo, guns, food and supplies... The two guards beside them were dressed in white hoodies, with red insides and on their chests, pouches and armor pads, all stuck together by a harness of sorts.

"What's with the increased security, Colonel?" Harper asked, crossing his arms.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Capt'n." Watts answered, holding his arms crossed.

As the trio continued down the hall into a wide room, occupied by civilians and in the middle of which resided an open elevator door. They stepped into it and Watts signaled his guards to go back to their business. He pressed the top floor button and it clanged, then moved upward slowly. Harper looked to Watts, who was ahead of them, then to Weiss. She looked particularly worried about the oncoming developments. On the top floor, the elevator clanged and whirred to a halt and opened up, to reveal a large penthouse, decorated with red silk and velvet on the couches. A large window provided a view to the habitat's outside, where an even larger city resided. Watts signaled the pair to sit down, to which they complied wearily.

"Wait here until one of my servants brings us something to drink." He stated, then walked toward the window and looked outside. "What do you prefer, captain?"

"I'm not that much of a drinker, honestly..." Harper answered, crossing his arms as he leaned back on the couch.

"I see..." Watts mused, then turned to Weiss, smiling. "How about you, miss Schnee?"

"Nothing for me either, please." She said, interlacing her hands on her lap. She looked to Harper, then whispered "Harper, what are we doing here?!" more scared than angry.

"Working on trying to figure out Selvaria's lead..." He whispered, then turned to Watts, who was walking toward them slowly, calm, his hands interlaced behind his back. He had the pokerface now. He sat down ahead of both, then leaned in on his hands. They saw one of Watts' servants, a woman clad in very revealing clothing, walk in with a tray. She placed it on the table, alongside one glass and a bottle of wine, on which read 'Cabernet Sauvignon 2510' in italian lettering. Watts nodded to his servant, then took the wine glass and poured himself some, placing the bottle back on the table.

"Well." He said, then took a sip from the glass. "You have my undivided attention, Harper. What is it you wish to know about? Shipping lanes that get struck, local war effort of the Republic and/or the Separatists in some random system?"

"Actually," Harper said, pulling out a flask he had with him, which bore the N7 insignia, then opened the cap and took a sip from it. Cold-kept Coke was what he was drinking. He slung the golden-reddish flask back into his belt, then leaned in and spoke softly, quietly "We want to know if any Republic or Separatist ship went through to GCUP Territory..."

"Hmm..." Watts considered several options, rubbing his chin. He shook his head. "None of the big superpowers entered through here..."

"Great..." Harper sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned back.

"But then again..." Watts smirked, taking another sip from his glass. He looked back to Harper and tilted the glass toward him, the reddish liquid remaining evenly within it, not spilling "There was this guy with a greyed-out beard. He waltzed in here, killed a couple of my guards with a bendy red lightsaber like those the Jedi used, and demanded to know the location of some museum in the Outer Colonies... I, of course, told him." He leaned back onto his seat.

"A sane move." Weiss said, placing one leg over the other and scanning their surroundings. "Would've been killed yourself had you not told him..."

"Yeah." Watts said, placing the glass back onto the tray. "Didn't say'is name, but I'd think he was one of the Jedi's darker counterparts. Either a Dark Jedi or... Hmm, the word eludes me..."

"Sith." Harper said, calmly, as he examined the response of the Colonel. He was still as calm and collected, his face not betraying a hint of emotion, but in his eyes, fear was gleaming.

"Yeah..." Watts mused, dumbstruck "What the hell did a sith want with the local museum on Chi Ceti IV anyway? You got any idea toward that?"

"None..." Harper said, standing up. "Thanks... We'll be making sure to transfer the supplies you requested aboard your little outpost here..."

"Yes, indeed." Weiss said, standing up and walking next to Harper.

"Oh, but you can't leave now..." Watts said, standing up, back against them. "You're hunting that Sith... So that means two things. You're either Bounty Hunters that are crazy enough to go after Lightsaber wielding maniacs..." He turned toward them, then snapped his fingers. A dozen guards exited the shadows, more advanced rifles than the ones the others had, but still resembling in uniform. They snapped their rifles in the pair's general direction, then they heard a dozen clicks as the safeties dropped. Weiss looked to Harper and shook her head. Watts continued "Or you're Republic soldiers... In which case, it's sayonara, suckers."

"You seriously thought we'd get away from here without these guys figuring it out?" She asked as she removed Myrtenaster from her hip and took a combat stance.

"Was hoping..." Harper said, unholstering his Mattock and snapping it forth toward their targets. Harper registered the silent thumps of SMG fire and looked back. Soldiers clad in black uniforms with strange helmets moved in, silenced Submachineguns in hand. The muzzle flashes, though dulled down by the Silencers, shone bright in the confine of the room. The soldiers surrounded Watts after his 12+ guards went down, gunned down by both the soldiers and Harper.

"So, Watts." Harper said, placing the rifle on the man's stomach. "Nice try, double-crossing us..." He looked to the soldiers around and noticed each bore a number. 087, 117, 059... Strange... 117 was Harper's service number as well. He nodded to said soldier, then slung his rifle on his back, crossing his arms. "All yours, boys and... Girls too, surprisingly..." He mused, then looked to see 117 closing in on him, his Silenced SMG lowered.

"Who are you." The boy asked in a thick voice, yet very determined.

"I'm Harper." The Biotic answered. 117 nodded to him.

"I'm John." He stated, then slung his SMG on his hip. "Thanks for... Distracting Watts..."

"Wait..." Weiss mused, slinging Myrtenaster on her hip and examining the soldiers. "You're Gallian Consulate, are you not?"

"UNSC ONI, morelike... But yes, GCUP nonetheless." Stated 087 in a thick british accent. "I'm Kelly. You pair should head to your ship now. We got Watts and I bet you got what you wanted."

"Yeah." Harper said.

"You republic folk are all the same." John-117 said, crossing his arms. "Spartans. Bag Watts. We're moving out!"

"'Spartans' huh?" Harper asked, grinning. "Alright, John... Hope to see you people around again. We'll be out of here..."

"Good luck, Harper." John said, nodding. "I have a feeling we will meet again."

Harper grinned, then nodded. Him and Weiss ran toward the Elevator, then moved down at best speed. Running across the halls, more Insurgent soldiers fired at them with their advanced rifles. Metal sparked as bullets struck beside them, implanting into either the glass and lights surrounding them or something else. Up ahead, at the airlock, they saw Isara and dodged as she hoisted her Long Las up and fired. The beam of crimson energy vaporized a guards head and gave the pair enough time to run aboard. Harper nodded to Weiss and to Isara, closed the airlock and undocked them. Harper boarded his pilot's chair and undocked them, moving them with the thrusters. As they moved away from the asteroid, a pair of fighters undocked and charged at them. Harper snapped his gaze to Yang, determined.

"Yang..." He said. She looked at him.

"Yes?" She asked, anticipation filling her voice.

"Yang'em up royally!" He said, giving him a thumbs up. Yang grinned, then nodded, turning to her console. Cannons turned and missiles screamed in the general direction of the enemy fighters. One of them dodged as the first one got struck down by three ARCHER Missiles. Harper cued his mic and looked to the pod, calling Isara. She appeared on-screen, then nodded to him.

" _Slipstream's spooled up!"_ She said. Harper turned to Weiss, who nodded.

"Coordinates to closest Republic planet locked in!" She yelled, then looked back to her console. Ahead, space rippled, without him even thinking twice. The ship burst through into Slipspace, then left the area at high-speed. Harper and the others cheered as they looked out ahead, the dim light of slipspace filling the cockpit. Harper leaned back into his chair and sighed deeply...

"First one down..."


	9. NOTE

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"emstrongTo All READERS! TO all READERS! This is a note relating to ALL STORIES on ELITEOP!/strong/em/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"Alright, folks. I'll be brief about it. I'm thinking of possibly rewriting the entire set of stories I have on this accou/span/em/strongstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"nt to better fit my current standards of writing (2000+ or up to 6000+ words per chapter, better descriptions etc.) and none of my stories here will be continued. /span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"To be fairly honest, I was honored to actually have started most stories I have here and If... IF, I have the possibility, I'd like to finish all of them, but restarted, rewritten, basically remaster them all. Think of it this way. It'll be better for all, since I was, what, 13-14 when I started this account and started posting stuff.../span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"I bid you all good luck, thanks for all the support and wish to see you all another time if at all possible./span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"You'll probably find the rewrites on my Secondary and Tertiary accounts... Yet again, thanks for it all and I wish you all good luck./span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"Secondary account:ForsakenSpartan/span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"Tertiary(Where a current rewrite of VC:TN is currently standing):Johnnieboy11/span/em/strong/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"spanstrongemspan style="text-decoration: underline;"Peace out!/span/em/strong/span/p 


End file.
